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1. Great Butterfly Food Adding some native and naturalized plants to your garden will increase your traffic of local butterflies. Different butterflies are attracted to different flower shapes and colors so remember to add a variety of shapes and colors including both tubular (bell shaped) and composite (daisy-like) in colors of orange, yellow, blue and red. Following is a list of plants that our local butterflies especially enjoy. Food for adults Asclepias curassavica (Milkweed) Bougainvillea glabra (Bouganvillea) Buddleia davidii (Butterfly bush) Epilobium californica (California fuchsia) Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Chinese hibiscus) Limonium (stattice) Mimulus aruanticus (Sticky monkey flower) Mimulus cardinalis (Scarlet monkey flower) Passiflora manicata, jamesonii (Passion vine) Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) Salvia spathacea (Hummingbird salvia) Salvia leucophylla (Purple sage) Scabiosa (Pincushion flower) Food for caterpillars* Asclepias curassavica (milkweed) Ceanothus Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Chinese hibiscus) Foeniculum vulgare (Fennel) Impatiens Quercus chrysolepis, wizlizenii, agrifolia (Oaks) Tropaelum majus (Nastrutium) Mimuls aurantiacus (Sticky monkey flower) *Remember those somewhat ugly caterpillars grow up to be gorgeous butterflies. So please abstain from pesticide use in your butterfly garden. Systemic pesticides used to kill unwanted bugs like aphids will also kill your butterflies. Strive for a more natural organic environment to keep your nasty bugs in check and your butterflies happy.
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